tagged w/ Pickens Plan
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Can a hot rod 1956 Ford F-100 pickup truck go green? This wicked ride takes a different road to coolness, with clean burning propane power under the hood, along with a number of eco-friendly tactics. Caught on tape at SEMA 2009 in Las Vegas.Can a hot rod 1956 Ford F-100 pickup truck go green? This wicked ride takes a... more
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Last year T. Boone Pickens brought the concept of natural gas as a vehicle fuel into the national stream of consciousness when he launched his “Pickens Plan”. Since then the concept has evolved to the point where there are several pieces of legislation making their way through Congress (Natural Gas Act of 2009)and the Senate which will encourage the more widespread implementation of this “green” fossil fuel. Recent estimates of the natural gas reserves in the United States indicate that we have a 100 year supply which is equal to all of the oil in Saudi Arabia. Pickens and his supporters are calling natural gas a bridge fuel to a greener tomorrow but some critics seem unsure of how this could work.
In this story I will attempt to answer those doubts by building that bridge in realistic terms from readily available information. In simplest terms Pickens CNG “bridge” can extend the time we have to transition to another vehicle fuel no matter what type. In a previous story (Why The Future of Transportation Fuel Is Hydrogen)I pointed out that hydrogen fuel is the logical choice as our eventual primary fuel because, when produced from water using solar or wind energy, it is 100% non polluting and 100% renewable. In addition, in the near term, it is the one fuel which can be produced from anything domestically available that we are currently using as a fuel including fossil sources and renewables. From my perspective Pickens has created the best, most viable option for a transition to 100% clean hydrogen fuel.
Hydrogen energy has, to this point, faced a lot of obstacles because it requires a specialized storage and distribution infrastructure and, even though it can be used with our familiar, internal combustion engine powered vehicles (with the proper storage and fuel system), the cost of the infrastructure necessary combined with the fact that it is much better to use hydrogen with fuel cell vehicles in order to take advantage of its full potential and the cost of producing hydrogen have all served to keep hydrogen energy stalled at the verge of being implemented. In financial terms it is something of a chicken or egg scenario; do we build the infrastructure with no cars available or build the cars with no infrastructure or invest hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars into building both simultaneously?
Pickens idea of using natural gas as the vehicle to transport us into an independent, green energy transportation future provides the only viable option from the perspectives of both economic viability and seamlessness of transition. In fact India has been quietly pursuing this same concept for at least the past 5 years or more and doing it from an angle that is not even mentioned as an option in the US.
It started when the Indian government mandated that all public vehicles in Delhi be converted to run on CNG fuel in order to cut pollution in the city. CNG fuel produces 25% less CO2 pollution than gasoline vehicles and 90% fewer other pollutants. From there the concept evolved into one where the vehicles are running on a mix of CNG and hydrogen fuel. This mixture further reduces CO2 pollution by a percentage roughly equal to the percentage of hydrogen mixed into the CNG stream. In a press release from this past January it was revealed that all of the Indian car manufacturers are now working together to develop cars for retail sale which will be optimized to run on this fuel mix.
Clink link above to read entire story...Last year T. Boone Pickens brought the concept of natural gas as a vehicle fuel into... more
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Diane Chu is a Chartered Economist (MBA, CPM) with extensive experience working for major corporations in the energy sector. I started talking to her on twitter after reading a story she wrote (Land Driller Sector Outlook: It's All About the Natural Gas) on the financial website "Seeking Alpha".
We talked a bit about the evolution of the energy business in general and then got to discussion the Pickens Plan. I asked her if she would be interested in doing an analysis of T. Boone Pickens' idea of turning to our large domestic natural gas resources as part of a general plan to move toward energy independence as a nation and she agreed. To me it is always interesting to hear the opinion of industry professionals in addition to politicians or the "man on the street" as it gives a more rounded perspective on an issue.
For the rest of the story click the link above.
Diane Chu's blog: http://dianchu.blogspot.com/
Diane Chu on twitter: http://twitter.com/Asiablues
Diane Chu on Seeking Alpha: http://seekingalpha.com/author/dian-l-chuDiane Chu is a Chartered Economist (MBA, CPM) with extensive experience working for... more
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Billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens is delaying his massive Texas wind project, citing a drop in natural gas prices and the tightening credit market.
"With natural gas prices where they are, you can't kick off a wind project, you're not economical." Pickens said Tuesday at a news conference in Arizona.
But Pickens, who has spent millions over the last few months promoting his "Pickens Plan" to wean the United States off foreign oil by switching to wind and natural gas, said natural gas and oil prices will rise again in less than a year, and characterized the setback as temporary.Billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens is delaying his massive Texas wind project, citing... more
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pshira
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added this
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3 years ago
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T. Boone Pickens recently dumped another $5 million of his personal fortune into feel-good ads promoting his “renewable energy” and “clean fuels” initiative. As his TV ads flood the airwaves, I thought you might be interested in these 10 truths about Prop. 10:
1. Billionaire T. Boone Pickens is trying to steal Californian Kids’ lunch money. Like a grade-school bully, Pickens is using the sheer size of his wallet to try to ram through a self-enriching ballot initiative that the non-partisan California Legislative Analyst has estimated will cost an entire generation of Californians hundreds of millions of dollars annually – over $330 annually for 30 years!
2. In fact, his $5 billion measure is really a $10 billion Boone-doggle.
3. Pickens’ shareholders paid a pretty penny for his “magnanimous” public policy. Pickens claims he’s investing his own money out of a selfless motivation for “a better America.” In fact, Pickens has financed Prop. 10 by manipulating the price of his own Clean Fuels Corp. (NASDAQ CLNE) stock. Pickens “shorted” around $20 million worth at $18 per share on the open market, and then re-purchased $5 million of shares directly from the CLNE corporate treasury. This caused a free-fall of CLNE’s share price (worse than the broader market) to just $10 per share.
4. T. Boone the “Oil & Gas Man” is really the “Tax Man.” With California facing staggering budget shortfalls, Pickens’ Plan will certainly require a tax hike, or else come at the expense of schools, health care and other critical needs.
5. You wouldn’t buy a car on a thirty-year mortgage. Not with your own money you wouldn’t, and neither would Pickens and his country club buddy Aubrey McClendon (CEO of Chesapeake Energy, Prop. 10’s other major backer). That’s why they want to use Californians’ money to build a market for their natural gas companies. Under Pickens’ Plan, our children and grandchildren will be paying off Prop 10’s lavish subsidies of $50,000 per natural gas-powered truck long after those vehicles are rusting in a scrap yard.
6. There is no requirement that vehicles funded under Prop. 10 will even remain in California. This is in contrast to on-going California alternative fuel subsidy programs that have provided CLNE with millions of dollars in funding.
7. Prop 10 doesn’t require any results. Despite T. Boone’s campaign’s high-falutin’ claims, Prop. 10 doesn’t require even one particle of emissions reductions, reduce petroleum consumption by a single ounce, or generate a single watt of renewable energy.
8. There’s no broad-based coalition supporting Prop. 10, despite the Yes-on-10 campaign’s claims of helping the environment and reducing oil dependence, its only major backers are those who stand to gain financially from its passage
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9. Nearly “everyone” opposes Prop. 10 including every major editorial board (the L.A. Times even called Prop 10 a “reprehensible scam”!); every major environmental group (Sierra Club, NRDC, CLCV, Environment California…) and it has united unlikely allies like the California Federation of Labor and California Chamber of Commerce.
10. Natural gas looks cheap now, but it won’t be for long under the Pickens Plan. The natural gas burned in power plants is bought by electricity generators at wholesale on the commodities market, but Pickens and McClendon want to sell that natural gas to motorists at retail. Plus, increasing demand for natural gas will certainly increase natural gas prices across the board.T. Boone Pickens recently dumped another $5 million of his personal fortune into... more
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